


Sooner or Later

by abderian



Series: Forever Young Trilogy [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 04:24:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/618039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abderian/pseuds/abderian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seventy years ago he had stood on the stage, with nothing but a guitar and his voice, singing for all his fallen band mates. Seventy years he had lived, trying to continue their dream, while his dream consisted of one day being able to see them again, but not until he could say he had lived to the fullest. Seventy years and he was finally able to see them again.</p><p>Sequel to Forever Young</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sooner or Later

xXx

Forever young,

I wanna be,

Forever young,

Do you really want to live forever,

Forever,

Forever young.”

The song tapered off and Niall just gazed down, refusing to meet the gaze of the audience, their fierce applause falling on deaf ears.

The scene disappeared as a gnarled hand pressed the off button on the television, the old recording of the Grammy’s disappearing as he felt the tears slip down his wizened face.

“Thank you.” He whispered to the nurse, it had been his last wish to be able to watch and relive it all, from their first audition, until his final performance upon that stage, the ghosts of his past supporting him though no one else could see.

It had been the end of One Direction, but the beginning of Niall Horan. He had been able to move on and leave his heartache behind, a stronger man with the promise of seeing them once more forever on his mind.

His pale eyes, wearied by age flittered over the awards that he had earned, each kept completely dust free and in perfect condition since he had stepped up, time after time, to accept them, his speech always ending the same, “I dedicate this to my friends, who will always be forever young.”

He relaxed back into the cushions, his body aching with old age, already he could feel the heavy aura of death around him, and now he understood how Liam had remained so calm in the end. Death wasn’t frightening; it wasn’t something to be scared of. Niall knew that as he watched the sun set, gazing out his window, that he would never see if rise again, and he just embraced it.

Trembling fingers reached out, grasping the picture of the bedside table, wiping the thin layer of dust away as he just gazed at it, the faces so wholesome, so young. But he could already see it, at the time they had been blind, but Niall had studied the picture so many times since then that he could see the subtle stirring in Harry’s eyes that if they had seen earlier, perhaps they wouldn’t have been too late.

It had been Harry’s death that had kept him up the most, tossing and turning. Because Harry’s death was avoidable. You cannot stop a car accident, you cannot stop illness, but you can stop drug abuse, and times when the loneliness was almost unbearable, Niall would curse the fact that he had walked in too late and found only a corpse that was beyond help.

His eyelids were growing heavy, and Niall did not fight the incoming sleep, because he knew that he would dream of his love, of Liam. He knew that he would never wake up, and he would be forever trapped in the perfect illusion with the person who had forever held his heart.

The grip on the photo loosened, and it fell onto the sheets, the silence stealing around the room as moonlight cut through the glass to gently illuminate the old man as his eyes closed and his last breath danced around the room, as though trying to touch all his memories and bring them with him to the next life.

xXx

Niall scrunched his eyes up against the sun, hand pushing away at the person who was gently shaking his shoulder telling him it was time to wake up. Around him the smell of fresh grass tinged the air, complemented by the serene scent of fresh jasmine.

“Niall, buddy, come on wake up.”

It was only then, as the familiar but long forgotten Cheshire tones washed over him that he forced himself to open his eyes, launching up to throw his arms around the other boy the moment he saw those green eyes.

He didn’t even say anything, neither of them did, they just sat there, soaking in the moment, just being in each other’s presence.

“So I’m dead?” Niall whispered, head buried in the nook where Harry’s curls fell against his blond hair, both of them looking no older than eighteen.

Harry just held him, offering no answer to the statement, he didn’t need to.

“I’m sorry. Niall I really am, you guys tried to stop me but I didn’t listen. And I thought my punishment would be having to wait here forever for you all to join me, I don’t know why I got lucky and you were forced to cold hand. I should have been the lonely one Niall.”

He could hear the self-loathing in the voice, the fact that he had been the first to fall and in his mind his weakness should have let him suffer, but instead in the seventy years since Niall had last seen him, the other boy had never been short for company, while Niall watched his own heart bleed time and again.

Pulling away, Niall rested a hand on Harry’s face, “No you listen to me, that’s all in the past, and I never once blamed you, if anything I was annoyed that we didn’t realise sooner and try to help you. But now it’s a new beginning, let’s just move on and be happy that we are all together. Where are the others?”

Harry leaned back, “You will meet them soon enough, I mean this is only the gateway and I insisted on being the one to meet you, because I felt like I needed to be alone to apologise. Zayn and Louis are probably just beyond the gate though, it’s killing them that they never got to say goodbye.”

Hands intertwined, the both pulled each other to their feet, the soft serenity pushing them forward into the unknown. As they passed through the gate, a smoke enveloped them, and Niall found himself clinging to Harry’s hand in fear, but Harry just chuckled as the cloud dispersed and the found themselves walking down the cobbled streets of London.

“But…” Niall looked around in wonder, he honestly didn’t know what he had expected, but it wasn’t this. In the back of his mind he acknowledged that they had probably found his body know, and the press was reporting the news of his natural passing in his sleep, the official end of One Direction, the one remaining legacy finally joining his band mates in forever.

And almost as though they read his thoughts, suddenly a pair of strong arms circled him. The scent of lemons mingled with spices clung to him as though it had been too long that had mingled with his smell. Instinctively Niall deepened the hug.

“Louis,” glancing over the older boys shoulder his gaze fell onto Zayn, leaning against the wall, trying to look nonchalant, but it was apparent in his hazel eyes that all he wanted was to grasp onto Niall and never let him go, to protect him from all the dangers in this strange new world, to make up for leaving him alone.

Seemingly sensing the mood, Louis let go, and pushed Niall toward Zayn. The blond stumbled and Zayn caught him, pulling him in tight and close, as though it was the hug that he needed to keep going.

Blond, Niall had caught a glance of himself in the window and had noted the hair colour, so long since his tips had been dyed, having grown out his hair to its natural colour only to have it thin and become colourless as his time drew to a close.

“I’m so sorry, we didn’t realise otherwise we would have said goodbye. We never realised that we wouldn’t see you again. But now you are here and I am not leaving this time, I refuse to be taken away before I can say everything I need to.”

“I never blamed you Zayn, or you Louis,” Niall’s head was still drawn to Zayn’s chest the other boy refusing to let go, and Niall to comfortable in his embrace, “I only blamed the person who messed with the breaks, and I know neither of you is stupid enough to do that.”

Harry smirked, “I don’t know Louis is pretty stupid.”

Louis smacked him on the arm, “I am not.”

Niall’s heart started to whelm with the joy of the playful banter, he had gone so long without it that it was like now, confronted with everything he had missed, it was a raw reality that was bringing tears to his eyes, almost overwhelming in the intense clash of emotions.

Finally Zayn let him go, grasping his hand, “But you don’t really care about us, we all know its Liam you want to see.”

“Why didn’t he come and meet me?”

Louis took his other hand, “Because you and Liam got the chance to say goodbye and although his death hurt it was also the one death that didn’t weigh heavily on both your minds, it was completely unavoidable, and you had come to that acceptance before he closed his eyes. Us however, all three of us didn’t get that chance, so Liam was happy to let us go, to have out chance to say sorry for just disappearing, and then he would wait, almost like the prize at the end of the journey.”

xXx

The nurse wandered into the room, in order to check that the drip didn’t need to be refilled. She was hired to make sure that Mr Horan’s final moments were comfortable, and that he was allowed to wait out his time in his own house and bedroom, away from the prying eyes of the public and the unwelcoming sterility of the hospital.

The sun pooled into the room, casting shadows as it rose from the horizon, still a dull orange. Pulling the curtains back all the way she allowed the early warmth to filter in as she turned around.

“Good morning Mr Horan.”

And she knew immediately, his sleep was too peaceful, no lines as he screwed up his face against dreams and pain, no rattling breaths and twitching fingers, he was finally free.

She took his hand in hers, picking it up just to check the pulse in order to be sure, her almond eyes falling on the picture that he had kept close right until the end.

Picking it up, she wiped away a tear as she looked at all the boys, so young and happy, the boys that she was too young to know, the boys that she had listened to her grandmother tell her tales about.

Her lips brushed the old man’s forehead as she smoothed out the sheets, “You are together once more.” She whispered to him, before replacing the picture and walking out of the room to call the appropriate authorities.

xXx

“I can’t do it.” Niall whispered, suddenly frozen in front of the door. He knew where he was, and he hadn’t stood there for many years, he hadn’t been able to face it after Liam had died. The apartment had just served as empty reminders of all that he had lost. And even now, even knowing that Liam was on the other side, he had seventy years of superstition and hatred of the place that he had to overcome.

Arms wrapped around him, and Harry spoke his voice tickling Niall’s ear, “Is it really worth all this waiting to turn and run due to fears of the past. Niall you almost broke so many years ago and joined us cause you didn’t think you could continue on, but you survived, and now here you are finally about to be reunited. There is nothing to be scared of.”

It was true, after he had lost Liam, he had almost taken his own life, just so he could be with all his friends again, but that was the selfish option, and he knew that if he had done it, his friends would be disappointed when they met him.

“I didn’t feel like I could do it, I didn’t think I was strong enough to survive on my own, and I confess at times I considered ending it just so I could be with my friends, my boyfriend once again.” Niall felt a soft touch on his shoulder and he looked, seeing Liam there giving him the strength to go on, he looked to his other side where Zayn and Louis stood, ready to support him, finally he saw Harry, an apologetic smile on his face, yet his eyes shined with pride. The world might not know it but One Direction was together for one last time.

Niall remembered that moment, how they had given him the strength when he needed them the most, but this time was different, he had crossed to come to them, they hadn’t come to him, and this time the world was aware, they knew that once more One Direction was together for the first time.

A trembling hand closed around the metal handle and it turned, in an anti-clockwise direction, turning back time and Niall stepped forward, the apartment not changed.

“Niall.” Liam was just standing, waiting, and for the longest time neither of them moved, just simply soaking up each other, the blond hair, the brown curls, the blue eyes met brown. Every freckle, every smile, every twitch, it had been burned into their memories but somewhere along the line they had begun to doubt themselves, but know the picture in their heart was burning with renewed vigour.

Louis nudged Niall in the back, and suddenly the spell was broken, and the two fell forward, into each other’s arms, collapsing on the floor.

“I love you.” They said together, the perfect harmony of voices.

Minutes passed in a timeless home, and the others began to fidget, until they could wait no more, and fell to the ground turning the cuddle between lovers into a hug between friends.

No more could death keep them apart and no more could time cause their hearts pain, because they would never age in this new beginning, they would be forever young.

xXx

The news hit the stands almost immediately, the headlines reading “Niall Horan Dies Aged 97.” Some commented that he was lucky to live such a long life, while others solemnly stated that after seventy years he was finally back where he belonged.

And the stations all pulled his first solo performance up from the grave, playing it to celebrate his life. Across the world, people sat in front of their televisions, tears upon their face as their childhood officially was over, as they watched the man of 27 upon a stool with nothing but the guitar as he relaxed into the familiar verse.

Some are like water, some are like the heat,

Some are a melody and some are the beat,

But sooner or later they all will be gone,

Why don’t they stay young?


End file.
